Plague
by scarxtardis
Summary: Plague: A contagious bacterial disease characterized by fever and delirium, causing hallucinations, sickness, and even death. When members of the ARC start catching an unknown disease, Matt begins to realise that he's immune. Can he save his friends? And where has the disease come from?
1. Chapter 1

Matt Anderson hated night shifts.

He'd gone through three mugs of coffee, a doughnut and eight rounds of Tetris on his phone. _Why does there have to be a night shift, anyway? It's not like anyone is going to come in and steal a bloody kaprosuchus_, Matt thought bitterly.

It was dark in the ARC corridors, with only his torch and phone to supply dim light. Matt sighed to himself, leaning against the wall, before sliding to the floor in contempt. He jumped slightly as his phone buzzed, and chuckled to himself.

_Are you alright? Bored?_ It was a text from Emily. Matt grinned. Ever since he'd bought her a phone for her first modern birthday, she'd been struggling with how to use it, but she managed. He punched in a quick reply, before settling back to his spot on the shiny linoleum floor.

Matt had been in charge of the night shifts for a while, now. He liked them at first, when it was himself and Connor, but Lester had insisted that they "_had not gotten any work done_" and were "_too unprofessional"_ when they were together, so he'd split them up to do the night shifts on different nights. _What's so unprofessional about setting up spy camera's on Lester playing computer games?_ He thought to himself. He leant his head back, bored. Now it was just him and Becker, and the pair didn't see eye to eye on everything. He was fun at times, though.

"BECKER, WANT A COFFEE? I'VE GOT A SPARE MUG." He yelled, awaiting a snide answer. There was no answer. "Fine by me." Matt muttered.

Matt got up to go and get another mug of coffee for himself, and to find Becker. As he wandered through the dim corridor, he heard a thump, then a soft groan. He stopped, and looked behind him.

Nothing was there.

Matt shook his head, and walked on. Another groan, echoed through the winding corridors. It sent a shiver down Matt's spine. He squinted in the dark, and spotted something on the floor behind him. A dark puddle was sitting right beside his left foot. He knelt down next to it, and gingerly placed his finger on it. It came away wet and sticky. He lifted his finger to his nose, when a pungent, metallic smell invaded his senses. It was blood, hot and fresh. He grimaced, and wiped it on his jeans.

Another groan drifted down the corridor. Matt followed the sound, his heart racing. "Hello?" He called out. A low whine answered him. It sounded hollow. Hollow and dead. Matt's mouth went dry. "Who's there?"

He walked up to the door where the sound was coming from. It was behind the door. Matt's hands shook as he placed his hand on the knob, and gently pushed it open.

The room was dark and cold. He couldn't see anything in there, but it reeked of blood and vomit and sweat. He gagged and covered his nose, before switching on the light and gasping.

A small, bloody, gaunt creature lay curled in the corner, twitching erratically and moaning gently. Matt craned his head and covered his mouth with his hand, approaching the creature. It was a hominid of some sort, but so skinny, with mottled skin and blood covering it. It was almost unrecognisable, until it turned it's head feebly to face Matt.

Matt had to hold back a scream of pure terror.

It was Becker.


	2. Chapter 2

Becker was shuddering in the corner of the small, dark room, curled into a fetal position, as if he was trying to not let Matt see him. Even in the dark, Matt could see he was extremely sick. His usually tan skin was pale, sticky with perspiration, a green-grey tinge to it. It seemed almost... transparent. His eyes, which bored into Matt's, were huge and bloodshot. His gaunt cheekbones looked at is they were going to break through the thin membrane of his face.

But the thing that made Matt give out a strangled cry were the _veins._

Thick, black, and very visible, they were pulsing and creeping their way up his neck like spiders. He could see them moving, undulating, as Becker clawed at his skin, as if trying to let the fire inside out. Matt's stomach churned. "Becker. I need to get you to a doctor. Give me your arm." Matt shook his shoulders gently as Becker's head lolled back. "Stay with me, man." He threw Becker's thin, limp arm over his shoulder and dragged him out of the room. Becker gagged, and a fountain of scarlet emerged from his mouth, all over the floor and all over Matt.

_Vomiting blood? _Matt's forehead started to bead with sweat. _What's that supposed to mean? I'm no doctor, oh god, help me, help him..._

He carried Becker to the office and dialled the phone for an ambulance. He put the phone to his ear. No reception. "Bloody hell, of all the times..." He knelt down in front of Becker. "Becker. Talk to me." He said gently.

"Matt... Where am...I? Where am I?" Becker whispered hoarsely.

"We're still at the ARC, mate. I'm going to have to drive you to the hospital, alright?" He forced a weak smile. Becker's eyes rolled back into his head, mumbling something incoherent.

Matt ran outside, Becker over his shoulder, and lay him down in the back seat of the car. "Hold on, ok?" He strapped Becker into the passenger seat, jumped into the driver's seat, and sped to the hospital.

Once there, Matt was lost. He stumbled out of the car, into the emergency ward. "HELP!" Matt yelled. The nurse at the counter sent out two other's with a stretcher to retriever Becker for examination. Matt stood by, biting his nails, shivering. It was a cold night, but his shakes had nothing to do with the temperature.

Nothing at all.

Matt's hands were still jittering as he used to emergency call phone to call Abby. He impatiently jumped from foot to foot until she picked up. His mind was racing with all kinds of possibilities of the disease. _Is it from the future? Did I bring it with me? Was it from the past? _

"Abby, I'm sorry for waking you up so late, but something's happened, I need you to come quickly, its Becker..." Matt threw his words into the phone, as Abby tried to cut in.

"What? What's happened, Matt?" Abby said back, the concern in her voice increasing.

"He's sick. I don't mean a cold, not a stomach bug, but really, _really_ sick... he was vomiting, his skin was see-through, and his eyes..." He tried to keep him voice from betraying him. "Please come to the hospital." He whispered.

Abby took a shaky breath on the other end of the line.

"I'm already here. Connor's ill, too."


End file.
